On 7/3/2012 5:50 AM, John Doe wrote:

From: Rafał Radecki radecki.rafal@gmail.com

...

I am currently designing a server room. I would like to be able to draw a 2D (in the future 3D) project. Do you know any tools? Which one can you recommend?

On Windows or OS X, I like sketchup...

Agreed. SketchUp is about as easy as 3D gets. I like to start models in SketchUp, even if they get finished elsewhere. For your purposes, you probably won't need what I'd call "finishing." Plus, you probably won't need more than the free version of SketchUp.

Though, LayOut would be pretty useful for this project. Think of it, Rafał, as a lightweight 2D CAD companion to SketchUp. You'd start the project in 3D, then if you decide later you need dimensioned plan drawings, you could whip them out quickly in LayOut.

Otherwise you have Blender, but the learning curve might be high.

So much so that only one who hadn't used both would think of them as being in the same class. It's like comparing bullet trains and rocketships; both cool, both transportation, yet still totally unrelated. CAD and VFX overlap in about the same sort of way.

Think of Blender as an option when/if you decide you need your SketchUp model needs to be photorealistically rendered, and smoothly animated, and have 3D virtual characters interact with it, and be composited with live footage, and have physically accurate simulated clouds and water flowing through it, and...

On 7/3/2012 5:53 AM, John R Pierce wrote:

3D modeling is a lot of work.

Only if you compare apples to oranges.

I do better with 3D because I can't draw, shade, color, or do traditional animation worth a darn. I *can* build realistic models of what I want, and I can also convince a computer to spit out a solid 2D render from a 3D model.

Now, will it take me longer to do that than for a talented 2D artist to draw it? Almost certainly. But my model is more flexible. I can easily animate it, deform it, change camera angles...in 2D, you usually have to redraw to make such full-scene changes.

Creating in 3D is sorta like graphically writing software to create 2D output: the created artifact is as flexible as software, able to be repurposed in the same sort of ways. 2D is almost chiseled in stone by comparison. 3D gives you some advantages in the 2D world, too, what with multi-pass layered output. (Basically, gives you the ability to tweak a 2D static render element by element in a program like Photoshop or Gimp, or a pile of 2D frames element by element in a compositor like After Effects or Blender.)

Plus, a 2D artist might not be available. I work in a small company; we wear a lot of hats. When the choice is "hire a 2D artist" vs "have Warren do it in 3D" we tend to pick the latter.

Now, in certain narrow areas, I do myself still pick 2D. If I know going in that what I need is a 2D isomorphic overhead plan drawing, I might well do it in 2D, for example. But if I'm not sure that I might not later need a 3D version for some reason -- say, figuring out A/C placement for air flow before bringing contractors in -- it might be worth doing it in 3D from the start.

Even if you never need the 3D model, adding the extra dimension forces you to think through things you wouldn't consider until you're trying to put together a pile of physical parts unboxed all over the floor.

Just my tuppence.

On 03/07/12 22:35, Fernando Cassia wrote:

On Tue, Jul 3, 2012 at 8:41 AM, Rafał Radecki radecki.rafal@gmail.com wrote:

...

I am currently designing a server room. I would like to be able to draw a 2D (in the future 3D) project. Do you know any tools? Which one can you recommend?

http://www.sweethome3d.com/index.jsp

Great app, cross-platform Java. worth a try...

+1 to that you get a 2D plan with dimension lines plus a object list where you can specify properties (dimensions) precisely plus a 3D representation you can spin around plus it can generate relatively realistic photos and movie walk-throughs

K